Become a Member

NATIONAL NETWORK

Forward Cities’ most powerful asset is our national capacity-building and learning network. Our membership includes cross-sector, cross-generation practitioners and policy-makers dedicated to accelerating inclusive innovation in their local communities and exploring opportunities for collaboration between cities. By joining, your city will have an opportunity to connect with other city leaders in our network, share ideas, and access capacity-building tools and resources. This includes access to our membership directory as well as invitations to our conferences and Cross-City Innovation Labs. At the Leadership Level, you can be a part of the Moving Cities Forward Listening Tour where a member of our team visits your city to learn from local leaders and share how we can support your entrepreneurial ecosystem.

NATIONAL Conferences

When your city joins our network, you will get up to 10 free passes (a value of $650 per pass) to be used at either our fall national conference or our members-only spring convening, including our next gathering in Pittsburgh, PA, June 12-14. These conferences help Forward Cities members ditch the status quo. We expand your vision, deepen your analysis, and give you practical tools through hands-on, interactive experiences.

Capacity Building

As a Forward Cities member, you have access to a host of capacity-building tools and resources. This includes technical assistance with forming a cross-sector Entrepreneurship Council and mapping your local entrepreneurial ecosystem. You will also be eligible to receive a discount on our Community Entrepreneurship Accelerator, which includes a full-time Local Director dedicated to working for your city.

Continuing Education

Stay sharp on scalable solutions and cutting-edge innovation by participating in our quarterly Promising Practices webinar and reading stories from our regularly published newsletter. Additionally, when we spotlight stories from our Member Cities they will reach our 24,000 followers on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) and the 11,000 readers on our e-mail distribution list.

Membership Benefits

Cities can join our network at either the Leadership or Community level (respective benefits and annual fees listed below). Speak with our Director of Membership to determine which level is best for your city.

We also encourage regional clusters of cities to join Forward Cities – particularly a metropolitan and surrounding micropolitans. If your region is interested in exploring this opportunity and the associated discounts, please contact us.

The membership levels for a city per year are as follows:

Benefits

Leadership
$20,000

Community
$10,000

Moving Cities Forward Listening Tour
Forward Cities spends a day learning from leaders in your city about the local entrepreneurial ecosystem and sharing ways we can support your work

Y

N

Invitation to Community Entrepreneurship Showcase
Experience the impact of our capacity-building work in other Member Cities